How do they do that?

Today we move from the mundane (and aggravating) discussion of concert etiquette, or lack thereof, to the lofty sphere of “Art” and “Artists,” with a capital A.

I’m currently reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog (ever so slowly), and I’m at a spot where one of two central characters has her breath taken away by her first glance at a still-life painting.

“Whence comes the sense of wonder we perceive when we encounter certain works of art? Admiration is born with our first gaze and if we subsequently should discover..that all this beauty is the fruit of a virtuosity that can only be detected through close scrutiny of a brush that has been able to tame shadow and light and restore shape and texture…this neither dissipates nor explains the mystery of ones initial dazzled gaze.”

How do they do this? The details of the artistic process do not explain the beauty, do they? Why does a great artist speak to us, to so many of us? It’s more than Rembrandt’s technique, than Monet’s playing with light. We can analyze Beethoven’s deceptive key changes or Bach’s intricate fugues but it’s not that which transports us upon first hearing, or second, or third.

Author Muriel Barbery goes on to say:

“What does Art do for us? It gives shape to our emotions, makes them visible [or audible], and in so doing, places a seal of eternity upon them. [These] works… have incarcerated the universal nature of human emotions.”

This morning my friend Chuck quoted Aldous Huxley on Facebook: “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”

2 Responses

Yes, what is art? It’s beyond definition because it’s something that makes you feel something, something alive and something you can’t put in to words. That’s why we make music, experience art. And I love that you can’t really explain or define it. It’s what I strive for even when playing reductions. I’ve said this before, “If it doesn’t say something, have meaning, why bother”? My computer keyboard can be as accurate as someone playing all of the right notes but let me tell you, there is no way I relate to all of those clicks and clacks!

“Art is not rocket science”. Did you make that up? Both catchy and profound! Left Brain – science; right brain – arts, music emotion. I recently read that pre-school children are highly creative, but by age 7 only 10 percent of children are characterized as highly creative due to the emphasis on science, math, logic, etc. in our educational system. As a scientist, I know of many other scientists who also pursue music and art as a “hobby” for fulfillment and balance in their life, but I know of few artists and musicians who pursue science as a hobby. My conclusion? (I’m a scientist – I have to have a conclusion, ya’ know) Artists and musicians have found fulfillment in their craft. Why look futher?